AVELINO ORDOO, petitioner,

vs.
HON. ANGEL DAQUIGAN, presiding Judge of the Court of First Instance of La Union, Branch I
and CONRADO V. POSADAS, First Assistant Provincial Fiscal of La Union and the PEOPLE
OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
Pedro G. Peralta for petitioner.
Conrado V. Posadas for and in behalf of other respondents.

AQUINO, J.:
Avelino Ordoo was charged in the municipal court of San Gabriel, La Union with having raped his
daughter, Leonora, on October 11, 1970. The verified complaint dated November 7, 1973 was
signed by the twenty four year old victim (Criminal Case No. 104).
In support of that complaint, Catalina Balanon Ordoo, the mother of Leonora, executed a sworn
statement wherein she disclosed that on that same date, October 11th, Leonora had apprised her of
the outrage but no denunciation was filed because Avelino Ordoo threatened to kill Leonora and
Catalina (his daughter and wife, respectively) if they reported the crime to the police.
Catalina Ordoo in her sworn statement further revealed that her husband had also raped their other
daughter, Rosa, on March 25 and April 7, 1973. He was charged in court with that offense.
Catalina Ordoo said that the rape committed by Avelino Ordoo against Leonora was mentioned
during the investigation and trial of Avelino Ordoo for the rape committed against Rosa Ordoo.
Catalina's statement on this point is as follows:
Q Why did you not file the complaint against your husband concerning the incident
involving Leonora Ordoo?
A We Also narrated the incident during the investigation in the Fiscal's Office and
also when I testified in court in the case of my daughter Rosa Ordoo but then my
daughter Leonora Ordoo was still in Manila, sir.
During the preliminary investigation of the rape committed against Leonora, Catalina manifested that
she was no longer afraid to denounce Avelino Ordoo because he was already in jail for having
raped Rosa Ordoo.
The case against Avelino Ordoo, where Leonora Ordoo was the complainant, was elevated to the
Court of First Instance of La Union, San Fernando, Branch (Criminal Case No. 356). On May 29,
1974 the Fiscal presented Catalina Ordoo as the second prosecution witness. After she had stated
her personal circumstances, the defense counsel objected to her competency. He invoked the
marital disqualification rule found in Rule 130 of the Rules of Court which provides:

Sec. 20. Disqualification by reason of interest or relationship. The following

persons cannot testify as to matters in which they are interested, directly or indirectly,
as herein enumerated:
xxx xxx xxx
(b) A husband cannot be examined for or against his wife without her consent; nor a
wife for or against her husband without his consent, except in a civil case by one
against the other or in a criminal case for a crime committed by one against the
other;
xxx xxx xxx
Counsel claimed that Avelino Ordoo had not consented expressly or impliedly to his wife's testifying
against him.
The trial court overruled the objection. After the denial of Avelino Ordoo's motion for the
reconsideration of the adverse ruling, he filed the instant action for certiorari and prohibition. He was
allowed to sue in forma pauperis.
The issue is whether the rape committed by the husband against his daughter is a crime committed
by him against his wife within the meaning of the exception found in the marital disqualification rule.
Should the phrase "in a criminal case for a crime committed by one against the other" be restricted
to crimes committed by one spouse against the other, such as physical injuries, bigamy, adultery or
concubinage, or should it be given a latitudinarian interpretation as referring to any offense causing
marital discord?
There is a dictum that "where the marital and domestic relations are so strained that there is no more
harmony to be preserved nor peace and tranquility which may be disturbed, the reason based upon
such harmony and tranquility fails. In such a case identity of interests disappears and the
consequent danger of perjury based on that identity is non-existent. Likewise, in such a situation, the
security and confidences of private life which the law aims at protecting will be nothing but ideals
which, through their absence, merely leave a void in the unhappy home" (People vs. Francisco, 78
Phil. 694, 704).
In the Francisco case, the wife, as a rebuttal witness, was allowed to testify against the husband
who was charged with having killed his son and who testified that it was the wife who killed their son.
We think that the correct rule, which may be adopted in this jurisdiction, is that laid down in Cargill
vs. State, 35 ALR 133, 220 Pac. 64, 25 Okl. 314, wherein the court said:
The rule that the injury must amount to a physical wrong upon the person is too
narrow; and the rule that any offense remotely or indirectly affecting domestic
harmony comes within the exception is too broad. The better rule is that, when an
offense directly attack or directly and vitally impairs, the conjugal relation, it comes
within the exception to the statute that one shall not be a witness against the other
except in a criminal prosecution for a crime committed (by) one against the other.

Using the criterion thus judiciously enunciated in the Cargill case, it can be concluded that in the law
of evidence the rape perpetrated by the father against his daughter is a crime committed by him
against his wife (the victim's mother). *
That conclusion is in harmony with the practices and traditions of the Filipino family where, normally,
the daughter is close to the mother who, having breast-fed and reared her offspring, is always ready
to render her counsel and assistance in time of need. Indeed, when the daughter is in distress or
suffers moral or physical pain, she usually utters the word Inay (Mother) before she invokes the
name of the Lord.
Thus, in this case, when Avelino Ordoo, after having raped his daughter Leonora in the early
morning of October 11, 1970, tried to repeat the beastly act in the evening of that date, Leonora
shouted "Mother" and, on hearing that word, Avelino desisted.
That the rape of the daughter by the father, an undeniably abominable and revolting crime with
incestuous implications, positively undermines the connubial relationship, is a proposition too
obvious to require much elucidation.
In Wilkinson vs. People, 282 Pac. 257, it was held that the wife was a competent witness against the
husband in a prosecution for rape committed by the husband against his stepdaughter, who is the
wife's natural daughter because the crime was "an outrage upon nature in its dearest and tenderest
relations as well as a crime against humanity itself". The court adopted the interpretation that "a
criminal action or proceeding for a crime committed by one against the other" may refer to a crime
where the wife is the individual particularly and directly injured or affected by the crime for which the
husband is being prosecuted (See Dill vs. People, 19 Colo. 469, 475, 36 Pac. 229, 232).
In State vs. Chambers, 87 Iowa 1, 53 N.W. 1090, it was held under the statutory provision that
husband or wife shall in no case be a witness for or against the other, except in a criminal
proceeding for a crime committed by one against the other, that the wife was competent to testify
against the husband in a case where he was prosecuted for incest committed against his
stepdaughter.
In State vs. Shultz, 177 Iowa 321, 158 N.W. 539, it was held that the wife may testify against the
husband in a case where he was prosecuted for incest committed against their eleven-year old
daughter because incest is a "crime committed against the wife". (See Owens vs. State, 32 Neb.
167, 49 N.W. 226; Lord vs. State, 23 N.W. 507, 17 Neb. 526; People vs. Segura, 60 Phil. 933).
The trial court did not err in holding that Catalina Ordoo could testify against her husband, Avelino
Ordoo, in the case where he is being tried for having raped their daughter, Leonora.
WHEREFORE, the petition for certiorari and prohibition is dismissed. No costs.